


The Curse of Duolingo

by shnuffeluv



Category: Internet & Social Media (Anthropomorphic)
Genre: Crack Treated Seriously, Curses, Gen, Languages and Linguistics, Public Transportation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2019-12-10
Packaged: 2021-02-24 16:54:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21741295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shnuffeluv/pseuds/shnuffeluv
Summary: Something weird happens to Peter on the way home.
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 8





	The Curse of Duolingo

Peter was your everyday guy. Nothing in particular was notable about him–in fact the most notable thing about him might have been his new shoes. They were Converse that he had saved up to buy. Not having a lot of money from a minimum wage job meant he had to be smart about his money, but he had been saving up for this for a long time.

He was walking down the street, listening to music, and he sat down at the bus stop. He pulled out his phone and paused the music, swiping over to find the Duolingo app on his phone. He was in the process of learning Dutch–one of his friends lived in the Netherlands and he wanted to visit them one day, but he had to speak a little bit of the language first.

Nothing particularly strange happened when he opened the app. It buffered a bit before it loaded, but there was no glitching, no crashing, nothing to explain what happened when he looked up from the leaderboard to see a man sitting across from him on the bench. _De man leest de krant_ was floating in little off-white letters in front of the man. Peter rubbed his eyes and blinked, but the words were still there. He turned back to his phone. He had been practicing too much if he was starting to see the words everywhere he went.

He did the lessons he had to in order to fulfill his requirement that day, and then he put away his phone. The bus slowed to a stop in front of them, and Peter and the man both got on the bus. Peter relaxed into the seat as much as he could on public transportation. He was about to rest his eyes and resolve to take a nap when he got home when a loud screech caught his attention.

Looking around wildly, he saw a child near the back of the bus, and the words _Dat is een kind_ floated in the air.

By this point, Peter suspected that something was going on, but he had no idea what it was. He had an inkling of an idea, but nothing concrete whatsoever. All he knew was that something had to be wrong.

When he got back home, he opened up his refrigerator for a snack, but everything had those same floating words over them. _Ei, kaas, bier, vis, kip_ all floated above the offending foods.

“What is going on?” Peter muttered to himself.

“It’s the curse of Duolingo,” an unfamiliar voice said from behind him.

Peter turned and there was the Duolingo owl. “The what?”

“The curse of Duolingo,” the owl said. “Those who use Duolingo to learn will have the words forever etched into their minds, or else they die by my wings.”

“I have to remember?! Why do you do this?” Peter asked, dismayed.

“Such is the way of Duolingo, _kind,”_ the Duolingo owl said, and without another word, it disappeared.

**Author's Note:**

> This story is part of the [LLF Comment Project](https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/llfcommentproject), which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including:
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